title: From bacteria to human: a journey into the world of chitinases.
abstract: Chitinases, the enzymes responsible for the biological degradation of chitin, are found in a wide range of organisms from bacteria to higher plants and animals. They participate in numerous physiological processes such as nutrition, parasitism, morphogenesis and immunity. Many organisms, in addition to chitinases, produce inactive chitinase-like lectins that despite lacking enzymatic activity are involved in several regulatory functions. Most known chitinases belong to families 18 and 19 of glycosyl hydrolases, however a few chitinases that belong to families 23 and 48 have also been identified in recent years. In this review, different aspects of chitinases and chi-lectins from bacteria, fungi, insects, plants and mammals are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adrangi
authors.forename: Mohammad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Faramarzi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002688:Chitinases; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D006801:Humans; D019476:Insect Proteins; D008322:Mammals; D008958:Models, Molecular
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins; D002688:Chitinases
keywords: AMCase; Biocontrol; Biomarker; CBM; Chi-lectin; Chitinase; GH; Gene evolution; GlcNAc; IAD; ISP; MDN; N-acetylglucosamine; PR; acidic mammalian chitinase; carbohydrate-binding module; glycosyl hydrolase; ice structuring protein; innovation, amplification, and divergence; mutation during non-functionality; pathogenesis-related